VinGroup, Vietnam’s biggest private conglomerate, has long been undertaking a mission to spread kindness toward the community through its wide range of charity programs. Especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic, VinGroup has been hailed as a shining star for what it has done to help contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Donating ventilators, Covid-19 software worth a fortune
On August 25, VinGroup presented DrAid™ software and attached devices to assist with the prognosis assessment in Covid-19 treatment to the Health Ministry. This software helps detect quickly abnormalities based on upright chest X-ray films in less than five seconds. Coupled with PCR test, the software helps enhance the accuracy in Covid-19 testing, reduce false negative test results, and support the knowledge transfer from central-level doctors to grassroots-level ones.
DrAid™ is an AI-powered (artificial intelligence) software developed by VinBrain, under VinGroup, since 2019 to assist with diagnosis of lung, heart and bone diseases based on X-ray.
Given the complicated development of the pandemic, VinBrain teamed up with the Health Ministry’s Electronic Health Administration to research the application of AI to use chest X-ray films to support Covid-19 diagnosis in Vietnam, aiming to integrate functions in support of coronavirus patients’ prognosis assessment into DrAid™.
On August 18, the research was assessed and appraised by the Health Ministry’s Scientific and Technological Council, which concluded that the research would be useful to assist with Covid-19 patients’ prognosis assessment in hospitals and health facilities in the country.
The software will be deployed in hospitals and health care facilities nationwide. Hospitals will be given instructions on how to install and use the software to serve the fight against the deadly virus.
Earlier, on August 7, VinGroup handed over the first batch of 1,700 invasive ventilators, including 1,500 VFS-410 and 200 VFS-510 units, to the Health Ministry and donated chemicals to perform 56,000 Covid-19 PCR tests for Danang City, Haiphong City and Bac Ninh Province.
Moreover, Danang Vinmec Hospital also pledged to receive samples from the Danang Center for Disease Control and Prevention to perform testing with a maximum capacity of 500 tests per day, starting from August 8 to 22.
Commenting on VinGroup’s strong support for the fight against the pandemic, Nguyen Viet Quang, vice chairman and general director of VinGroup, said: “As a Vietnamese enterprise, Vingroup has joined hands with the entire community to curb the spread of the disease. VinGroup will make greater efforts to offer medical equipment and supplies needed to combat Covid-19.”
To date, VinGroup has donated trillions of dongs to the health sector, localities, and business partners to cope with this hard time.
Providing health checks and treatment for the poor
Aside from giving a helping hand to the community during the coronavirus outbreak, VinGroup has spread kindness in the community for years through the operation of its non-profit organization, called Kind Heart Foundation, which focuses on charity programs.
In July this year, the Kind Heart Foundation in coordination with the Quang Nam General Hospital organized a program to offer free cataract surgeries to 100 poor residents in this central province’s Nam Giang District. The Foundation pledged VND2.5 trillion to bring the light back to 1,000 cataract patients who are elderly or live in poverty-stricken families in the province.
It also cooperated with Vietnam National Hospital three months ago to provide free cataract surgeries for 900 poor residents in Nghi Loc, Do Luong, Quynh Luu districts in the north-central province of Nghe An.
The Foundation was set to sponsor eye operations for 7,500 cataract patients in 2020. It will require greater efforts to achieve this target as its program to conduct free eye surgeries was forced to temporarily suspend for months due to the impact of the novel coronavirus. Accordingly, apart from its partnership with Vietnam National Eye Hospital, the Foundation has been teaming up with many eye hospitals nationwide with an aim to accomplish its mission to bring sight back to people with visual impairment throughout the country and help reduce the blindness rate in the community.
In late June, the Foundation implemented a program under which 1,000 disadvantaged residents in Bao Lam District, Cao Bang Province received free-of-charge health checks, treatment and medicine. This year’s edition is expected to enable 32,000 poor people living in remote, border areas of 22 provinces and cities nationwide to take free medical checkups and treatment.
Launched in 2012, the program has expanded its scale to 61 provinces and cities in the country with total funding reaching nearly VND31 billion. During this nine-year journey, the Foundation, localities, and health care workers have organized hundreds of health checkups for underprivileged people.
Building schools in mountainous regions
The Kind Heart Foundation has also joined hands with multiple parties to develop schools for students in mountain areas.
In June, the Foundation broke ground on two classrooms at a primary school in Ktol Hamlet, Ho Moong Commune, Sa Thay District, in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum. As the commune is located in a remote area, students there did not have favorable learning conditions like their peers in other places.
Back in late May this year, the Foundation also started the construction of two classrooms worth nearly VND600 million for students of Huoi Lu 2 Primary School in Nam Nhu Commune, Nam Po District, Dien Bien Province. Huoi Lu 2 is named among the poorest localities in this northern mountainous province. Many roads linking the center of the district to many communes are yet to be cemented.
By Van Ly
